eBay feedback -- and other mild fibs

Before I buy on eBay, I like to check feedback. For all the good it does me. After a go-round with a HORRIBLE lying jerk of a seller, I learned that there are a number of reasons why a lack of negative feedback doesn't always add up to satisfied customers. The main one is threats, as in the crappy seller threatens to blast you with negative feedback if you dare to complain that the thing he sold you isn't, for example, what he said it was.

So I've learned to read between the lines. And that's why I chose to buy a memory card reader from, probably, mobilephy instead of a different seller who first caught my eye. That was because the other seller had an overall positivity rating in the high 90 percent range (very good) but because they sold so many items, the volume of positives made masked dozens and dozens of negatives as well. And even the positives weren't always positive: "Item wasn't as (fill in the blank) as I thought," or "Holiday shipping slow but understandable" or "Mom said if you can't say anything nice ..." OK, I made the last one up. And my Mom actually said that if I can't say anything nice, I should sit next to her.